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Apple Music vs. Spotify
Spotify leads the music streaming industry worldwide, with 285 million Premium (paid) subscribers as of Q3 2025. Features such as its universal device compatibility, dynamic social sharing options, and industry-defining music discovery tools—including prompt-based AI Playlists—have added to the provider’s immense popularity. Older sources like past reporting and archived estimates reflected much smaller counts that predate these updates.
Apple Music stands out as one of the largest music streaming services, with a catalog of over 100 million songs. Another standout feature is Apple Music Radio with exclusive artist interviews, curated programming, and the personalized Discovery Station. Apple does not disclose Apple Music-specific subscriber counts; independent analysis from MIDiA Research estimates roughly 110 million Apple Music subscribers as of mid‑2024 (published 2025), and Apple’s financial communications confirm it reports only aggregate paid subscriptions across Services.
Apple Music vs. Spotify Premium Overview
Apple Music and Spotify Premium broadly align on plan types (individual, family, and student), but exact prices and promos change over time and by region. The table below reflects historical pricing; for current rates, check each provider’s official pages, such as Spotify Premium plans and Apple Music.
Music library
Spotify and Apple Music now market catalogs at the 100‑million‑plus level, and the industry delivers well over 100,000 new recordings per day on average. Its New Releases tab houses the latest tunes, exclusive live sessions, and new singles every Friday. Also, to note, Spotify opens its entire music library to its free subscribers—though, your experience will be peppered with ads and limited to shuffle mode with a handful of skips while using its mobile app.
Spotify’s numbers are rivaled by Apple Music’s catalog, which likewise sits at over 100 million songs. Full‑album exclusives are now rare across major streaming platforms; Apple more often differentiates through curated programming and event partnerships rather than hard exclusivity—for example, its Super Bowl Halftime Show sponsorship (learn more).
Music discovery
Whether you’re a free or Premium subscriber, Spotify creates playlists based on your tastes (as tracked by algorithm) and your saved songs within the app. Core options like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and Daily/Niche Mixes remain, and prompt‑based AI Playlists now let you generate and refine mixes using natural‑language prompts.
When you create an account with Apple Music, personalization combines human curation with algorithmic recommendations. The always‑on Discovery Station is designed to surface songs you’re likely to enjoy but haven’t heard yet, alongside your personalized mixes and Apple Music Radio.
Offline listening
On paper, both streaming giants offer huge numbers when it comes to downloads. With Apple Music, you can associate up to 10 devices with your Apple ID for Apple Music and purchases (with a maximum of 5 computers within that 10), and downloads are constrained mainly by your device storage rather than a published per‑device track cap. For details, see Apple’s guidance on device association. The older user discussion that circulated a specific numeric track limit should be treated as historical context rather than current policy.
Following closely behind, Spotify permits offline listening on up to 5 devices per account and requires each device to go online at least once every 30 days to keep downloads active. Spotify’s current help center does not state a per‑device track‑count cap; storage and the device limit are the practical constraints. See Spotify Support.
Streaming quality
The sound quality of Spotify and Apple Music depends on multiple factors—including codec and bitrate choices, mastering sources, and your playback setup—and many listeners find differences subtle in everyday use. As noted in this discussion of contributing factors, older recordings and remasters can complicate comparisons. They’re pretty similar, especially when compared to vinyl, high-quality digital sources, and CDs.
The Bottom Line
If you’re a music enthusiast who loves finding new songs and artists and wants the latest in algorithmic and prompt‑based discovery, you’ll be happy with Spotify. If, on the other hand, you prefer a vast catalog with curated radio, personalized mixes, and an always‑on Discovery Station, you can’t go wrong with Apple Music.
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